skunkbelly
New member
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
Yep (10 chars).
Yep (10 chars).
Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
- Thread starter skunkbelly
- Start date
Ohomemgrande1
New member
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
Ackbar loaded up just fine.
Ackbar finally sent on to Mr. O. Ended up with no time at all over the weekend. Should still be Sunday in New Mexico (it's 1 PM Monday here).
Ackbar's biggets need is a weapon upgrade. I used the imbue on a Jagged Star, which gave me +12 max damage, but no ED. I finished off Andy using a Strength War Scepter. Crushing Blow is handy, but he seriously needed more base damage. Which is why I spent so long running for a base weapon for King's Grace (no luck, best 3os sword or scepter I found was a Long Sword, which was inferior to the Strength). Which is in turn why it took me so long to finish the act.
On the positive side, Andy dropped Dark Clan Crusher (195% ED, +2 Druid skills, 200% damage to demons, 21% bonus to AR, 200 AR vs Demons, 15 life per demon kill) which will be very handy in Hell if the runes to upgrade it can be found.
Ackbar loaded up just fine.
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
just to keep the talk up
just to keep the talk up
so .. black in a knout or a battle hammer? i dont have either base, but thinking what I should shoot for. leaning towards knout for fast CB goodness, I guess damage will be fine too. Damage would be awesome with BH though. would even consider a jagged star as getting 3 sockets would be easier
thoughts? just use whatever drops first with sockets?
thoughts? just use whatever drops first with sockets?
jiansonz
New member
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
My necromancer (with HF merc) found a plain ethereal Yari. I tried the socketing receipe, hoping for 5 sockets to make Honor. 2 sockets would allow for a faster and still a little more damaging Strength than he´s currently using. Some of the other outcomes could also be interesting...but I got only one socket. That sucks.
Depends a lot on the character build. If it has no skills or masteries to boost the physical damage (well, there´s a always a Might merc, though...) definitely Knout. If you have other gear providing more CB or lots of elemental damage, also go for Knout.
As for getting one with three sockets:
If one with three sockets does not drop, the second best find is a low quality version of these weapons. 'Normalize' it with chippie + Eld rune, then use the socketing recipe on it. Since the weapon now has ilvl=1, it has 3 sockets max and you´ll have 2/3 chance to get 3 sockets!
As for getting one with three sockets:
If one with three sockets does not drop, the second best find is a low quality version of these weapons. 'Normalize' it with chippie + Eld rune, then use the socketing recipe on it. Since the weapon now has ilvl=1, it has 3 sockets max and you´ll have 2/3 chance to get 3 sockets!
My necromancer (with HF merc) found a plain ethereal Yari. I tried the socketing receipe, hoping for 5 sockets to make Honor. 2 sockets would allow for a faster and still a little more damaging Strength than he´s currently using. Some of the other outcomes could also be interesting...but I got only one socket. That sucks.
skunkbelly
New member
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
@ soulmanz: the first item you mention would be preferable, I think. But in a tourny like this, I would take whatever comes first, within reason.
@ soulmanz: the first item you mention would be preferable, I think. But in a tourny like this, I would take whatever comes first, within reason.
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
@soulmanz-
For a character update, Skywalker is out of the desert and ready to go play with the harem girls. Little does he know... they've all been slain by evil monsters! A hero's work is never done. I did craft a nice blood amulet (my first try too, still lacking in the PGem department); nothing super, but it came out with 37% cold resistance and the right +1 skills for his character.
@soulmanz-
Yeah I would definitely go for the faster weapon choice. You might have a character that depends on raw damage as well, but for me Black is all about that 40% crushing blow, and you want a weapon that can dish that out as fast as possible. I'm waiting for the rune to drop to make this for Skywalker - he'll need CB before the Duriel fight.
For a character update, Skywalker is out of the desert and ready to go play with the harem girls. Little does he know... they've all been slain by evil monsters! A hero's work is never done. I did craft a nice blood amulet (my first try too, still lacking in the PGem department); nothing super, but it came out with 37% cold resistance and the right +1 skills for his character.
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
Some discussion on Vader
And a question for the previous players of Binks: Why does he have TWO 'Lore' helms, and even more puzzling, given that Binks is a Druid, why is neither of these made in a decent (or even crappy!) pelt with a staffmod or two?!?!
I also wanted to say a few words in defense of 'Stealth' and 'Malice'. Stealth is a wonderful early runeword, cheap and just full of general utility. EVERY SINGLE character I've played to this point in the tourney has had or made a Stealth, if only for the FHR on the merc (ever notice that act2 mercs have horrible hit recovery rates?) And 'Malice', while not for all purposes, is probably the most 'wolf in sheep's clothes' runeword there is...its a runeword with ENDGAME potential!! 100%OW and PMH means there is NOTHING you can't kill with this!! I know Vader loves his 'Malice' kris...
WoRG
Some discussion on Vader
@Kestegs: I had wondered why CE? Its soooo easy to get as a staffmod, and high levels only increase radius and mana cost, not damage...wish you had chosen PE, or at least a better non-synergy. I do think that Vader is still quite viable, but the lack of that synergy costs him up to +380%/+190% synergy damage to PD/PN. IMO, Vader's best option long-term is to supercharge his PD with Venom, and the easiest way to get that is 'Treachery'...all he needs is a Lem to pop into that Shael/Thul/opensocket mageplate I gave him, and he'll be set! A Blackbog's Sharp would also be truely sweet for Vader, but of course that's much more likely to drop for some character it's truely useless for...
And a question for the previous players of Binks: Why does he have TWO 'Lore' helms, and even more puzzling, given that Binks is a Druid, why is neither of these made in a decent (or even crappy!) pelt with a staffmod or two?!?!
I also wanted to say a few words in defense of 'Stealth' and 'Malice'. Stealth is a wonderful early runeword, cheap and just full of general utility. EVERY SINGLE character I've played to this point in the tourney has had or made a Stealth, if only for the FHR on the merc (ever notice that act2 mercs have horrible hit recovery rates?) And 'Malice', while not for all purposes, is probably the most 'wolf in sheep's clothes' runeword there is...its a runeword with ENDGAME potential!! 100%OW and PMH means there is NOTHING you can't kill with this!! I know Vader loves his 'Malice' kris...
WoRG
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
Dooku is sitting in the valley, going to spend some quality time among the tombs. Most of the act has been handled without any serious excitement or stress.
Dooku is sitting in the valley, going to spend some quality time among the tombs. Most of the act has been handled without any serious excitement or stress.
The maggot lair and arcane sanctuary on the other hand, were quite a chore, even on /p3. Most of the skeletons were dispatched in favor of better merc movement, but I still got pretty impatient... repositioning minions with town portals is probably not a viable long-term technique in Hell 
. He's had a minor upgrade to his crafted gear, but nothing that's made too noticeable a difference... some more skills would certainly improve his pace. With even minor luck he'll leave act II with an extra couple summoning prebuff options and some stashed goodies for anya or larzuk.
. He's had a minor upgrade to his crafted gear, but nothing that's made too noticeable a difference... some more skills would certainly improve his pace. With even minor luck he'll leave act II with an extra couple summoning prebuff options and some stashed goodies for anya or larzuk.
Kestegs
Active member
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
Is there something that I don't get about treachery's venom? why is it so good? Do you mean to just put it on the merc or is there some interaction if I use it on Vader. It's not real likely to get a Lem too soon, but It could still happen.
And again...:hang: for choosing CE!
And again...:hang: for choosing CE!
jiansonz
New member
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
In almost every case, Venom sets poison duration to 0.4 seconds. But when used with Poison Dagger, their lenghts are added. Poison damage rate per seconds are added (as usual), so you get a long-lasting poison with a potent rate.
In almost every case, Venom sets poison duration to 0.4 seconds. But when used with Poison Dagger, their lenghts are added. Poison damage rate per seconds are added (as usual), so you get a long-lasting poison with a potent rate.
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
Hoop, I had guessed as much from the ilvls of the items...its just that, in normal, 'Lore' represented a significant investment of weath, and I was curious why those players hadn't maximized on that investment by using a pelt with decent staffmods as the base...even +1 Raven or Dire Wolf would be useful, and +Twister/Tornado/Hurricane/Grizzly would all be excellent...
@Kestegs: Jiansonz has it...basically, Venom is very intense, but short-lived poison...but in conjunction with Poison Dagger, it remains very intense, but gains the duration of PD, racking up some very impressive poison damage that stacks with that of Poison Dagger. Further, when using the combo of PD and Venom, item durations are ignored, allowing you to add poison damage charms and items without worrying about lowering duration and thus overall damage.
WoRG
Hoop, I had guessed as much from the ilvls of the items...its just that, in normal, 'Lore' represented a significant investment of weath, and I was curious why those players hadn't maximized on that investment by using a pelt with decent staffmods as the base...even +1 Raven or Dire Wolf would be useful, and +Twister/Tornado/Hurricane/Grizzly would all be excellent...
@Kestegs: Jiansonz has it...basically, Venom is very intense, but short-lived poison...but in conjunction with Poison Dagger, it remains very intense, but gains the duration of PD, racking up some very impressive poison damage that stacks with that of Poison Dagger. Further, when using the combo of PD and Venom, item durations are ignored, allowing you to add poison damage charms and items without worrying about lowering duration and thus overall damage.
WoRG
Jason Maher
Active member
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
I made both those Lores. The reason I didn't use a pelt with decent staffmods is because I didn't bloody well find a pelt with good staffmods. So blame the RNG, not me.
I made both those Lores. The reason I didn't use a pelt with decent staffmods is because I didn't bloody well find a pelt with good staffmods. So blame the RNG, not me.
jiansonz
New member
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
I just want to point out a thing I just realized.
My current character has Bone Spear/Spirit/Prison as his Powers. Somewhere along the journey in Normal, he was given a point in Golem Mastery. Fair enough, because Summon Resist could have been chosen as a Power in later acts. But it wasn´t.
Since Golem Mastery is neither a Power nor a Core skill (I think it could have fit really well as a Core skill, but I didn´t make the rules...) so I can´t "use" it here in NM. But since it´s a passive skill, it´s always "used" whenever I summon a golem. The character has +1 All skills and +1 Necro skills on his gear so GM is actually operating at level 3 for now.
This tournament works in mysterious ways.
Oh, and a short gear update:
Then I have to ask: why was Palpatine sent to me with only ONE full rejuve (and I think two small ones)? I mean, at the very least, he should have found enough purples up to that point to be able to make at least 20 full purples. Has the progress been so tough that they have all been drunk? Hard to believe. Maybe he and Anya arranged a huge drinking party...
I just want to point out a thing I just realized.
My current character has Bone Spear/Spirit/Prison as his Powers. Somewhere along the journey in Normal, he was given a point in Golem Mastery. Fair enough, because Summon Resist could have been chosen as a Power in later acts. But it wasn´t.
Since Golem Mastery is neither a Power nor a Core skill (I think it could have fit really well as a Core skill, but I didn´t make the rules...) so I can´t "use" it here in NM. But since it´s a passive skill, it´s always "used" whenever I summon a golem. The character has +1 All skills and +1 Necro skills on his gear so GM is actually operating at level 3 for now.
This tournament works in mysterious ways.
Oh, and a short gear update:
Palpatine´s personalized item is Sander´s gloves. Since he doesn´t fight, it´s only the +40 life on it that is useful to him. While that is certainly not a bad bonus, I still think it was a weird choice for a 'wildcard'. Since cold resist was bad, I did some Safety gloves crafting (they have guaranteed cold resist). Second attempt gave me a pair of gloves with 31% cold resist. That´s more than what is possible on a rare, which I think is cool.
I have tried the socketing recipe on two plain Partizans, hoping for a decent Honor base. Partizans have 5 sockets max, so the chance is 1/3 on each try. They got 1 and 3 sockets, respectively. Darn. I am not giving up on this (four tombs left to clear) but I am running low on amethysts...
I have tried the socketing recipe on two plain Partizans, hoping for a decent Honor base. Partizans have 5 sockets max, so the chance is 1/3 on each try. They got 1 and 3 sockets, respectively. Darn. I am not giving up on this (four tombs left to clear) but I am running low on amethysts...
Then I have to ask: why was Palpatine sent to me with only ONE full rejuve (and I think two small ones)? I mean, at the very least, he should have found enough purples up to that point to be able to make at least 20 full purples. Has the progress been so tough that they have all been drunk? Hard to believe. Maybe he and Anya arranged a huge drinking party...
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
Antilles:
Antilles:
He has just killed the summoner and doing quite all right. I`m a bit clueless on how to improve his gear, though. He`s still wearing a rather boring scepter with +3 to Holy Freeze with two Iths in it. I`m still thinking about using my only Hel to get rid of those and make "Steel" in the Scepter instead as I`m almost exclusively using Holy Freeze. Maybe I`ll try to make something more hurtful as a switch weapon for Fanaticism.
My points so far have been going into the boring, but oh so useful, one-point wonders in the Defensive Aura tree and I`m hoping to get him leveled enough to get Holy Shield as well. I don`t see any reason why 100 or so life saved in Dexterity in addition to the crazy fast blocking shouldn`t be worth it
My points so far have been going into the boring, but oh so useful, one-point wonders in the Defensive Aura tree and I`m hoping to get him leveled enough to get Holy Shield as well. I don`t see any reason why 100 or so life saved in Dexterity in addition to the crazy fast blocking shouldn`t be worth it
jiansonz
New member
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
Careful there - Steel does not work in scepters. You could unsocket and make Strength, though.
I played Antilles last act.
Careful there - Steel does not work in scepters. You could unsocket and make Strength, though.
I played Antilles last act.
I was hoping to make a nice Holy Thunder for him, but never found a suitable scpeter. Intersting that we played him so differently. I played him as a merc helper lending Fanaticism 95% of the time. I had HF on switch (with the bow setup) and used it to pick off annoying Shamans and dangerous archer bosses. The only time I used HF in melee was against Andariel.
Re: Skunkbelly's Ultimate Tournament Challenge 2011
Heh, you saved me from having to search the ground for another Hel
And before I forget, good luck to soulmanz with the slow, but sturdy Chewie. I wish I could have improved him even more, but I absolutely struggled finding decent bases and socket fillers to make him anything better on players1.
Heh, you saved me from having to search the ground for another Hel
I`ve been searching for a Holy Thunder base myself, but I`m kinda picky on the staff mods, so I don`t have high hopes
The obvious choice of improvement is to find one mid-range rune and a lot of decent armour options opens, and I`ll probably stay for a while in the Tombs to see if that happens.
You are a much "safer" type of player than I am, so I`m not surprised we have a different way to play the character. I actually thought about asking you whether you played him the way you did
It`s certainly going to be interesting to see what the players after me (if Antilles survives me controlling him *crosses fingers* as I can see two potentially interesting routes. One is to pump Salvation as a synergy to Holy Freeze and spend the remaining points in Holy Shield and Fanaticism and let the merc handle immunes under Fana, or to have a slightly weaker Holy Freeze and pump Fanaticism and Zeal for some crazy melee carnage. Salvation gives a pretty decent boost to Holy Freeze, so I`m not sure which is superior, especially since the damage from Holy Freeze isn`t that great as it is.
Btw, great job you and the others have done with Antilles. Max block, healthy pool of life, good resists and decent kill speed. He should be very viable in the long run. The only thing I`ve really improved is a Grand Charm with 19 FR and 19 life, not bad at all.
The obvious choice of improvement is to find one mid-range rune and a lot of decent armour options opens, and I`ll probably stay for a while in the Tombs to see if that happens.You are a much "safer" type of player than I am, so I`m not surprised we have a different way to play the character. I actually thought about asking you whether you played him the way you did
It`s certainly going to be interesting to see what the players after me (if Antilles survives me controlling him *crosses fingers* as I can see two potentially interesting routes. One is to pump Salvation as a synergy to Holy Freeze and spend the remaining points in Holy Shield and Fanaticism and let the merc handle immunes under Fana, or to have a slightly weaker Holy Freeze and pump Fanaticism and Zeal for some crazy melee carnage. Salvation gives a pretty decent boost to Holy Freeze, so I`m not sure which is superior, especially since the damage from Holy Freeze isn`t that great as it is.
Btw, great job you and the others have done with Antilles. Max block, healthy pool of life, good resists and decent kill speed. He should be very viable in the long run. The only thing I`ve really improved is a Grand Charm with 19 FR and 19 life, not bad at all.
And before I forget, good luck to soulmanz with the slow, but sturdy Chewie. I wish I could have improved him even more, but I absolutely struggled finding decent bases and socket fillers to make him anything better on players1.
